Rick Gates

Rick Gates (27 April 1972-) was an American Republican Party political consultant and lobbyist who served as Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort's deputy during the 2016 presidential election. The two men were later indicted for failing to register as Ukrainian agents due to their work for the pro-Russian Ukrainian government of Viktor Yanukovych.

Biography
Rick Gates was born in 1972, and he was raised in Prince George County, Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1994 with a degree in government, and he earned a master's degree in public policy from George Washington University. He was employed at Paul Manafort's Washington DC lobbying firm from the start of his career, and both Gates and Manafort worked with pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in the 2000s. In June 2016, Gates again worked for Manafort after Manafort was made the chair of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and he handled the day-to-day activities of the campaign, including writing a plagiarized speech for Melania Trump to give. After Manafort was forced out of the campaign, Gates worked as a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee. On 27 October 2017, Gates and Manafort were indicted for conspiracy against the United States, making false statements, money laundering, and failing to register as foreign agents for Ukraine. On 30 October, the two men surrendered to the FBI, and Gates pled guilty on 23 February 2018, agreeing to cooperate with the Special Counsel investigation against Trump.